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Ikigai Summit finished on Saturday.
I took part in panel discussions, as well. The first time as a panelist, and the second time as a listener.
One thing that came up in the second panel discussion was that Ikigai isn’t the same as happiness, in the sense that it isn’t purely pleasurable. Daily joys and pleasures certainly can mean Ikigai, but Ikigai isn’t always pleasurable. Sometimes hardship can be Ikigai, too. You can find meaning when you go through challenges.
That made me think about Ikigai as Jujitsu-kan. Jujitsu-kan means a sense of fulfillment. It requires a certain effort from your side to feel it.
For example, let’s compare two situations.
One is to spend a day comfortably, doing something you can enjoy but doesn’t require much effort, such as sitting on a couch with coffee and cake, watching some favorite movies on Netflix.
The other is to spend a day comfortably yet productively, such as going jogging, cleaning up your room, and doing some other house chores.
The second situation requires some effort and that is when you feel jujitsu-kan more. You can feel Ikigai-kan in both situations, but in the first situation, you may not feel the sense of fulfillment at the end of the day.
It may be different if you did some reading instead of watching movies. Of course, movies can be intellectually stimulating, and it depends on the content, but generally, reading requires a little more effort from your side, and you may feel it to be more productive.
So, having some sense of being productive is the key to having jujitsu-kan.
In that case, biohacking can always give you Jijitsu-kan. Most biohacking activities require hormetic stress, and to have hormetic stress, you need to make some effort. If you intermittent fast, you have to endure for a period of 16 hours or 17 hours. Or when you go jogging for 45 minutes, you have to make an effort during that 45 minutes period. When you sit in a sauna for 12 minutes, you endure that period, and the same thing for a cold shower or cold bath.
Hormetic stress is the key. If you apply too much stress, it becomes purely painful and you don’t have a comfortable feeling.
Comfortable yet stressful is the key.
I thought Ikigai Bio-Hacking was a lifestyle to lead a meaningful life, meaning your life becomes purposeful, but, it can also be a way to produce small Jujitsu-kan every day. And the accumulation of your daily fulfillment becomes a purposeful life.